Two Bridges is an isolated location on the river
West Dart in the heart of
Dartmoor
Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, South West England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers .
The granite that forms the uplands dates from the Carb ...
National Park in
Devon
Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
, England. It is situated around northeast of
Princetown
Princetown is a villageDespite its name, Princetown is not classed as a town today – it is not included in the County Council's list of the 29 towns in Devon: located within Dartmoor national park in the English county of Devon. It is the ...
at the intersection of the two roads that cross Dartmoor: one is the old
turnpike road which was built across Dartmoor in the late 18th century (now known as the B3212);
the other is the B3357.
A map dated 1765 suggests the origin of the name, for in those days the road crossed both the
West Dart and the River Cowsic, just upstream from the point where they meet, and required two separate bridges.
By 1891, these had disappeared and there was just a single bridge, further downstream, over the West Dart. Today, however, there are again two bridges on the site, because a more modern structure has been added alongside its earlier predecessor. Visitors often mistakenly assume that these are the same two bridges that gave the name to the site.
In the 18th century, Two Bridges was best known for its potato market. Some small quarries in the vicinity show that there was also light industry in the area.
Those who met and worked in this remote spot were fed and lodged at the Saracen's Head. It was built in 1794 as a
coaching inn
The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of t ...
, and still stands there today, although it is now known as th
Two Bridges Hotel.
It continues to be a popular meeting point for tourists and walkers. The area is also surrounded by prehistoric antiquities, including
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
settlements,
stone row
A stone row or stone alignment is a linear arrangement of megalithic standing stones set at intervals along a common axis or series of axes, usually dating from the later Neolithic or Bronze Age.Power (1997), p.23 Rows may be individual or groupe ...
s and an impressive
standing stone
A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright rock (geology), stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the Eur ...
, th
Beardown Man situated to the north. The
Devonport Leat—a man-made waterchannel—passes nearby.
Wistman's Wood, a high-altitude oak wood, is to the north.
See also
*The Legend of the
Hairy hands (local ghost story)
References
{{coord, 50.558011, N, 3.965667, W, region:GB_type:landmark, format=dms, display=title
Dartmoor
Bridges in Devon
Hamlets in Devon